Friends and supporters of the pioneering LES performance artist Arleen Schloss, are continuing efforts to raise money to help with medical costs associated with a near fatal brain injury she suffered on January 16th after a fall on the stairs in her Broome street loft.

Schloss, 70, who also has multiple sclerosis, is recovering from the brain injury and a broken collarbone at the Queens Nassau Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Center in Far Rockaway. She entered the rehab facility on February 11 after being discharged from Bellevue Hospital.

The fundraising campaign, which has a $25,000 goal, has reached $6,850 since it launched. Schloss’ innovative work in spoken word poetry, film and new media, spans 30 years and she inspired and supported the work of many artists in the 1970s and 80s. She also helped cultivate and nurture the underground art scene on the LES, holding weekly performance events at her loft known as “A’s.”

Stuart Ginsberg, who teaches communications at Montclair State University and is in post-production editing a documentary on Schloss called “Wednesday’s at A’s,” spearheaded the fundraising campaign, along with other friends.

“The campaign is to support Arleen, creating an emergency fund for maintenance on her place, current medical bills and any future 24-hour care when she leaves rehab. Many artists like Arleen have a limited amount of savings and need an extra amount to get the care they deserve. She has helped hundreds of other people in the arts and has had a positive impact on the Lower East Side community. I think it’s time we give back to her.”

After undergoing emergency brain surgery in January, Schloss is now able to talk but is not yet walking. While Medicaid is paying most of her medical bills, it won’t cover ongoing care—physical, occupational therapy and full-time help. She is likely to need aides on a 24-hour basis, according to Ginsberg. Schloss had a part-time aide who was not with her at the time of the fall. She was discovered by a postal worker.

While Schloss is on the road to recovery, Ginsberg says it’s going to take a long time and that she is “not out of the woods yet. She’s going to need help for another year or two…getting back home, dealing with pain and pain management.”

Arleen Schloss at home in her office. Photo courtesy of Arleen Schloss via Stuart Ginsberg.

Arleen Schloss has been described as a creative force of nature. She is a prolific experimental artist whose work over the course of 30 years, beginning in the 1970’s, occupied the avant-garde edge, encompassing performance art, sound poetry, video, digital multimedia and other hard-to-categorize creative genres. Schloss, who lives and works on the Lower East Side, is the subject of a remarkable new documentary called “Wednesday’s at A’s” that chronicles her work and profound influence on the underground art scene in New York.